In 2011, the world of technology witnessed a quiet shift. While Satoshi Nakamoto—the mysterious creator of Bitcoin—stepped away from public view, another mind at Stanford University was laying the groundwork for something equally transformative. That mind was Nicolas Kokkalis, and his focus back then wasn’t on digital currency. It was on designing the nervous system of intelligent software—systems that could think, plan, and assist like human beings. His work didn’t make headlines, but it planted the seeds for how AI now interacts with us in daily life. What Was Kokkalis Building? Kokkalis wasn’t building robots or chatbots. He was designing software that could understand human tasks, organize them intelligently, and even learn from crowds of people online. His goal was to make digital assistants that behave more like real human helpers. Let’s explore two of his key projects from 2011: Project 1: Reminiscing a Person’s Life from His Lifelong To-Do List Published at CHI 2011 ...
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